ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1744 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1744 ************************************ 18 May 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a Norse woman in the 10th to 13th century. This letter is a brief answer to your question. We found a few examples of as an Old Norse feminine name [1]. It wasn't common, but it was used. You may want to consider that was also the name of a female troll in Norse mythology [2]. The slash in the name represents an accent on the preceding letter. A woman in Norse culture was most often known as her father's daughter. Runa, daughter of Thorgrimr, would have been called . You can find a more detailed discussion of Old Norse name construction on the web: A Simple Guide to Creating Old Norse Names http://www.wctc.net/~randomsf/sg-viking.htm Through most of your period, the Norse used the runic alphabet. If you'd like to know how to write your name in runes, please write again. We hope this brief letter has been useful. Please write us again if you have any questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 18 May 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Uppsala University Department for Scandinavian Languages, _Rundata_, software pre-release version 8.84 (test) (Uppsala, Sweden: Uppsala universitet, 1990), inscriptions U745, U687 and U959. [2] Lind, E.H., _Norsk-Isla:ndska Dopnamn ock Fingerade Namn fra*n Medeltiden_ (Uppsala & Leipzig: 1905-1915, sup. Oslo, Uppsala and Kobenhavn: 1931).